gn direct investment (FDI) since the reforms. The paper concludes with an economic prospectus for China.
Economic Development in China Prior to Deng Xiaping
For 2,000 years China was politically and economically stable under the imperialist ruling class which adhered to the humanistic, autocratic, and secular ideals of Confucianism. This was the longest continuously ruling political class in history. Then, beginning in the 1800s, rebellion, invasion by warlords, and occupation by Japan, created a general turmoil that has not ever been fully resolved since.
On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China was declared, and a Marxist/Leninist style of communism as a means to reunite renegade territories and make China a strong, coherent nation again was established. Mapping the pre-reform Chinese economic condition when in its closed and planned state, to analyze data on things like GDP, exports, imports, and investment, is a difficult task as many of the needed figures were never released by the Communist party.
We do know that, over the 30 years following Mao's rise to power and throughout the implementation of Deng's reforms, China evolved into a socialist market economy characterized by self-reliance and a centrally directed allocation of resources. A chronological general overview of the economic conditions in China under Mao follows.
In the first decade (1950s) China achieved relative success. The substantive growth was attributed to the post-war recovery. The security of political order after a period of chaos tends to facilitate growth and productivity. The transition of skilled labor to the private sector accentuates these effects.
The 1960s saw a reduction in growth that tapered into a stagnation that stifled growth throughout most of the decade. The focus on heavy industry, pursued in an attempt to emulate exactly the USSR experience, was recognized as inappropriate to China's situation. ...